azimuth

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

n. The horizontal angular distance from a reference direction, usually the northern point of the horizon, to the point where a vertical circle through a celestial body intersects the horizon, usually measured clockwise. Sometimes the southern point is used as the reference direction, and the measurement is made clockwise through 360°.

n. The horizontal angle of the observer's bearing in surveying, measured clockwise from a referent direction, as from the north, or from a referent celestial body, usually Polaris.

n. The lateral deviation of a projectile or bomb.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

n. An arc of the horizon intercepted between the meridian of the place and a vertical circle passing through the center of any object; as, the azimuth of a star; the azimuth or bearing of a line surveying.

n. The quadrant of an azimuth circle.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English

n. The quadrant of an azimuth circle.

n. An arc of the horizon intercepted between the meridian of the place and a vertical circle passing through the center of any object

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

n. In astronomy, an arc of the horizon intercepted between the meridian of a place and the vertical circle passing through the center of a celestial object. The azimuth and altitude of a star give its exact position in the sky.

This angle, called the azimuth of the pole star, varies with the latitude of the observer, as will appear from Fig 2, and hence its value must be computed for different latitudes, and the surveyor must know his

We want to move forty-five arc minutes in the opposite direction we moved last time, in altitude, altitude being jargon for a telescope’s up and down motion, as opposed to azimuth, which is movement from side to side.

I agree with Richard, One thing we learned in the Army during land nav. courses is an "escape azimuth" it is a direction that you can go, regardless of your location, that will get you to a major road, landmark or safety.

If you are at all into astronomy, there's an app called "Planets" that will tell you the rise and set time for the celestial bodies in the solar system for your particular location, as well as azimuth and altitude in degrees.